1. Technical Field
This document relates to natriuretic polypeptide delivery systems. For example, this document provides methods and materials related to natriuretic polypeptide delivery systems and methods and materials related to the use of such delivery systems to deliver natriuretic polypeptides to a mammal over a pro-longed period of time (e.g., weeks to months) to treat conditions such as cardiovascular disease, heart failure, coronary artery disease, myocardial infarction, hypertension, diabetes, and renal failure.
2. Background Information
There are various methods that can be adopted for the treatment of heart failure (HF) conditions. One of the ways is to administer exogenous natriuretic polypeptides (NPs) into HF patients. Several synthetic versions of naturally-occurring NPs have been developed and tested.
Presently, these polypeptides are administered intravenously while HF patients are hospitalized. However, despite the improvements in HF symptoms as a result of the treatment during hospitalization, there is still a high occurrence of re-admission and mortality rate associated with discharged patients. Currently, the only way to administer NPs chronically, in a non-clinical setting, is subcutaneous (SQ) bolus administration due to the short half-life of NPs.